It Occurred To Me Maybe I Should Post This Somewhere Instead Of Leaving It Buried In The Comments Of

it occurred to me maybe i should post this somewhere instead of leaving it buried in the comments of annoying heroine so hey here's a non canon scene i wrote! back in the day somebody commented on chapter three to the effect of "i need our gojo to just fall from the sky and give yuuji a hug" and it made me realize i needed that too.

“Yuuji, Yuuji, Yuuji,” Gojo-sensei says, lying in the grass in exactly the spot he landed. “We’ve found ourselves in quite the strange predicament, haven’t we?”

Yes, he thinks, loudly, but doesn’t say it. He’s not able to manage much at the moment but a stuttering, “Sensei, is it — is it really you?”

“Could anyone truly imitate me?” Gojo-sensei teases. Finally sitting up, he lifts the blindfold on his face and looks Yuuji up and down. Then he says with all the approval that Yuuji doesn’t deserve, “You’ve gotten stronger. Those scars make you look very dashing, by the way! Tell me, how did everyone get along without me? I—“

“Poorly,” Yuuji interrupts. He’s afraid Gojo-sensei will say something like I had faith in you, and he can’t risk hearing that, because that means confronting just how much he let this man down. “Sensei— Everything went to shit. Sensei, I—“

He tells Gojo-sensei everything as the man slowly brings himself to his feet.

After he talks for what feels like an eternity, about everything that happened and everything he’s trying desperately to fix, Gojo-sensei finally gives a simple, “I see.” His blindfold is still pushed up to his forehead, and Yuuji has never seen that look in his eyes before.

But then it’s gone, replaced with a bright grin. “I’m sure Yuuji is doing a good job, then!”

“Huh?” says Yuuji. “But—“

“No buts!” Gojo-sensei declares. “You are my pupil, after all, so you can hardly do anything else. Or do you doubt my teachings so much?”

“No,” Yuuji says loyally. He doesn’t append a ‘but’ this time, even though one sits at the tip of his tongue.

“Besides,” Gojo-sensei says, and he wags a finger as if scolding but his tone has turned much too soft for that. “I know that you’re doing a good job, because you’re Itadori Yuuji, and good is what Itadori Yuuji does.”

Yuuji huffs a half-laugh. “Actually, I’m Igarashi Yuuji here. That name was taken.”

“Hm. I suppose it would be,” Gojo says as he leans backward in thought. “Maybe I should give you a nickname! Wouldn’t that be fun, Yuuji? Would you like a nickname from your magnificent Sensei? Maybe I—“

The man cuts off as Yuuji’s forehead hits his shoulder.

Yuuji feels Gojo-sensei stiffen slightly, before relaxing into it. He knows his teacher has never been a particularly touchy person, except when he’s intentionally being a nuisance, or when he’s taking someone into his Domain and he has to keep them from actual braindeath. Genuine, physical comforts like this — well, they’ve happened, but always few and far between. Yuuji is mostly the one to initiate, and he did that less and less as he realized that infinity wasn’t the only thing holding Gojo-sensei apart from all that reached toward him.

One hand settles on the back of Yuuji’s head, and another on the middle of his upper back.

“Okay,” Gojo-sensei says. A thumb strokes the crest of Yuuji’s shoulder blades — just once, but distinct and real, enough to make Yuuji buckle and raise his own arms to clutch Gojo-sensei in return. “You must be tired, hm? Well, leave it to me. I’ve been sitting on my ass for — negative twelve years, it sounds like — so it’s about time I started pulling my weight again.” Gojo-sensei’s head shifts until Yuuji feels a cheek against his temple. It soon pulls back, but when the man speaks again, there’s a gentleness and thoughtfulness in it that Yuuji always forgets he’s capable of. “You should enjoy your youth, Yuuji. You’ve earned a break. Let me shoulder this one for a while. Okay?”

Yuuji squeezes him and says, “Okay.”